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Dessert

Light Ginger-bread

A gingerbread made with flour, molasses, ginger, cloves, and soda dissolved in sour milk, baked in small pans.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hodgson, Mary, fl. 1855 · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Light Ginger-bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Add sugar and butter.

  2. Put ten cups of flour into a pan.

  3. Add six cups of molasses to the flour.

  4. Season with half a cup of ginger and one tablespoon of cloves.

  5. Dissolve one and a half teaspoons of soda in sour milk.

Bake and serve

  1. Add the soda-sour milk mixture just before baking.

  2. Bake in small pans.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

720Calories
21 gProtein
10 gFat
136 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Hodgson, Mary, fl. 1855. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,671 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the gingerbread together as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep brown colour to the gingerbread.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in sour milk to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda, so the batter lightens and rises.
Ginger
Adds warm, spicy aroma and flavour.
Cloves
Adds warm, spicy aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Add the soda-sour milk mixture just before baking. Baking soda reacts with the acid in sour milk and starts releasing gas right away. If the mixture waits, much of that gas escapes before baking, so the gingerbread rises less and turns out denser.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, molasses, clove, milk):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, molasses, clove, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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